Car Share: It's All For You
by Golden Suze
Summary: How long can you keep a birthday surprise a secret? John, Mandy and Steve learn that it's not that easy. In the first chapter, John doesn't make things easy for himself when a text message lands him in hot water and Kayleigh fears the worst.
1. Chapter 1

**A new Car Share fanfic I'd like share with you all. Please feel free to leave a review.**

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**Car Share: It's All For You**

**Chapter 1**

Today was December 10th. Tomorrow just so happened to be Kayleigh's 37th birthday. Two weeks in fact before Christmas. John was genuinely going out his way to make sure this would be one very memorable birthday, one which she will never forget. Forever FM's weather forecast person had predicted a 60-80% chance of light snow for today and from the looks of the weather that morning, it really did look as though the weather forecast was spot on, given that it was bloody freezing.

He knows he will need to make sure he is extremely careful when it came to staying tight-lipped about what he was planning for her. Make it look as though he had forgotten her birthday which was edging ever closer. Mandy and Steve were both in on the surprise. He had to get their reassurance that the two of them wouldn't give anything away to Kayleigh until he gave them the green light to. Secrecy had never always been such a strong point for him.

He picked her up regular as clockwork, like normally did 5 days a week and drop her around teatime. John was now the proud owner of a Red Mini Cooper S. It had more headroom and certainly more at the back, for when they decided to get frisky with each other anytime.

"Morning handsome." Kayleigh edged closer to him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. _'Hang on a minute!'_ John asks himself. He raises an eyebrow at his girlfriend's unwillingness to give him a proper 'Good Morning kiss' on the lips.

"What's up with you, lady? Have I put you off from kissing me, this morning?" John quickly assumes there's a logical reason for why she decided not to be too expressive with him as soon as she greeted him, the moment she got into the car.

"Not while Our Mandy and Steve are looking over at us." She tells him, nods her head to her right side, as if to gesture the fact she was trying as much as possible to avoid eye contact with her sister and brother-in-law, who were currently standing on the driveway, glancing over at the Red Mini Cooper. The two of them were probably debating between themselves what the hold up was.

"Thought you said Your Mandy was okay with me and you courting." John's use of the word 'courting' seemed to trigger something in Kayleigh's mind which caused her expression to go from 'Can we please now.' to 'Sod which noisy buggers are watching us. Let's kiss'.

"Courting. God I love you Johnathan Redmond...Come here..." Kayleigh's hands tug on his shirt collar and then guide him towards her.

"Eh what you doing...give over..." John takes a moment to glance over Kayleigh's shoulder, to see whether Mandy and Steve were still hanging around. Mandy wasn't but Steve was, who was now sticking two thumbs up at him as if to say 'Good on ya pal'.

"Aww, you know you love me too..." Kayleigh said, after she leans herself over towards him and whispers in his ear. She proves she's too quick for him, to try and steal a kiss from her away, by moving away from him. She's paused for a brief moment because she wants to see the meaningful look in his eyes that she always relished seeing whenever they shared an intimate moment. She had to restrain herself from doing something completely silly like flinging herself at him or straddling him in the driver's seat!

"You see there's the beautiful ginger woman I first fell in love with...while I were sitting next to her on my arse." John poked fun at himself, not the first time he had done this and he knows it most certainly would not be the last time he would be attempting this. Kayleigh's immense love for him was beyond a doubt bringing out the best in him and boy did he find himself warming to this feeling.

They shared a gentle but firm kiss before John turned his attention to starting the car up and then got them on their way a minute or so later.

"Oh, do we have to go into work today. I wish we could just throw a sickie and have a day out somewhere." Kayleigh wished the both of them could ditch work for the day and take themselves off for a fun day at Blackpool Pleasure Beach instead.

"Don't be saying that." John gave the same predictable answer he would normally answer with.

"What?" Kayleigh knows this wouldn't make things look good for them at work but she thinks it's a risk worth taking, depending on whether they could give the world's best sickie.

"Suggesting the two of us throwing a sickie on the same day, that's what." John didn't want to risk getting a lecture from Dave regarding the matter of putting personal relationship before career/work priorities.

"So." Kayleigh doesn't see what the problem is. News of their relationship had reached around the store within to weeks that Mr Redmond and Kayleigh were officially courting and from most of the reactions, their colleagues had seemed pretty fine with seeing the loved pair holding hands when they left work.

"How suss will that look. It's not going to take everyone long to speculate over what we and you are getting up to with each other." John could never feel properly comfortable, knowing his and Kayleigh's colleagues were talking about them behind their back. Good thing Kayleigh was always there, willing him not to let any noisy looks from his colleagues get to him.

"Perhaps another time then. I've got a couple of holidays I need to book with Cath Hilton. Hey, perhaps me and you could book a holiday somewhere." Kayleigh was desperate for the two of them to spend more time together. A holiday was only the answer, seeing as their family lives and John's busy work schedule prevented them from sharing some quality time together as a couple.

"A holiday? Oh aye, anywhere in mind?" John quizzes her with a curious expression across his face.

"Well...not really. I was hoping the two of us could agree on where could go for two weeks away...no family, no work, just as me and you lapping up the sunshine and get ourselves a nice tan " She goes silent for a moment or two while she gives this some considerable thought. She speaks again as the car stops at the traffic lights. " Well put it this way, I'm ruling Spain out."

"Why? Spain's a great country to go to on holiday." John is curious to find out why she's ruling out Spain.

"Oh John, have you not heard they've got loads of nudist beaches nowadays. I don't fancy us being told to strip off and explore ourselves on the beach while everyone's watching us." Kayleigh cringes at the horrible thought of tourists' eyes being on her and John while they would taking a romantic stroll hand-in-hand together.

"If you ask me, that sounds a bit like dogging." Remembering this very word, gave John a good reason to smile and the perfect reason to tease her. His smiling additionally turned into loud laughter. Although he too did not like the very idea of strolling across the sands of the beach displaying himself in all his glory. As he glanced over at Kayleigh alongside him, he literally could not resist smiling and laughing because of the cringe looks she was now pulling with her face.

"Johnathan, it's not funny." She jokingly gestures that she will squeeze his bicep if he carried on laughing. The car is soon back on the move again as the lights turn green at the traffic lights.

"Look I'm sorry love, I probably should have kept my big gob shut, shouldn't I? I say one thing and then I go and make myself sound like a right bloody arsehole" John tries to explain in an attempt not to embarrass her further. He glanced over at her, she was obviously blushing and because she was doing this, it didn't take him too long to work out that she must be finding it hard not to laugh her head off because he had surprisingly brought this up.

"You've got me blushing now...thinking of dogging...oh god, what am I like?" Kayleigh laughs to herself and shields her face with both hands, in an attempt not to put John off from driving the car.

Forever FM's daily Golden Hour year was a very easy guess for John again. "This was the year Ken and Deirdre remarried in Coronation Street, Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles also got married. While Doctor Who returned our TV screens with Christopher Eccleston as The Doctor and Billie Piper as his companion, Rose Tyler. Can you guess the year?"

"2005..." John said without any hesitation whatsoever.

"One of these mornings I wish I could get one of these Golden Hour years right. My problem is I'm terrible at guessing." Kayleigh feels she could do much better and perhaps learn a handy tip or two from John, when it comes to making the right guess on answers to questions, while watching/listening to the likes of the Golden Hour and The Chase.

"Eh? You were only a year out the other morning, on the year Westlife had their first number 1 with Swear It Again." It was only last Wednesday, she very nearly got it right and John had to end up correcting her on what the answer was.

"You've still got a lot to teach me Johnathan. I can't wait to be a very good pupil for you." Kayleigh teases. She traces her finger down the side of his neck.

"So I have." John smiled thoughtfully to himself.

**xxx**

While on a smoking break outside, Elsie and Pamela, both ladies looked like they were a female Wrestling tag team due to their similar build, had spent most of it quizzing Kayleigh over what she thought John might be doing for her birthday party. Kayleigh couldn't give them an answer because she genuinely didn't know what to say. John hadn't given away anything to suggest he was planning a birthday party for her or planning to whisk her off for a romantic weekend away in the Lake District. She would seek to get a clue from him some way or another, bide her time for the next few days and then when they get a quiet moment, she will straight out ask him

John momentarily placed his hand on the edge of the roof of the car. When he saw Kayleigh coming out of the building and strolling towards him in what felt like in beautiful slow-motion, he removed it and held his arms out to give her a hug because he could tell right away from the look on her face something clearly wasn't right. "So how was your day, working in the clothes department?" He asked as she walked straight into his embrace.

"Hey get a room lovebirds!" One of the idiots from warehouse called over to them. His remark was completely ignored by John and Kayleigh.

"Oh, it was awful. Kept chatted up by this customer who wouldn't leave me alone. Well he climbed to be.a customer but I think he might actually be one of Rick's mates. Kept asking me for my number. I told him to piss off and he said would wait outside for me when I finish, you know to check, if I've changed my mind on giving him my number." Kayleigh shivers uncomfortably as she replays the encounter in her mind.

"I'll break his wrists, if Rick's mate shows his face on the premises again" Kayleigh was touched to see how protective he was becoming of her. He had never shown this side of himself before, so it came as a refreshing surprise to see him going into 'full protective boyfriend mode' when someone or something upset her.

"Don't John, you're much better than this. I'm sure he's only done this as a cheeky bet with Rick. If anyone needs a telling off it's Rick." Kayleigh knows what Donna's Rick can be like, crafty and arrogant, egging his mates on to woo Donna's colleagues, whether they were single or had a boyfriend.

"But he's got no bloody right, bet or no bet. You okay?" John was half fuming. How dare this smug-faced dickhead make a move on Kayleigh. Eventually the temper within him had thankfully began to calm down, the longer they comforted each other.

"I'm fine. I'd rather just forget about it, John." Kayleigh said as she released herself from his arms. She really did not want to say much else. After all John was her boss and the possibility of him taking things personally against a member of staff could land him in serious trouble. She had to make sure he wouldn't be hell bent on breaking Rick or his mate's wrists once he has a word with either one of them. They got inside the car and put their seat-belts on.

"Sorry Kayleigh. Rick is certainly earning himself a bad reputation. Don't know why Donna keeps putting up with him for." John thinks Donna can do better with a much nicer person than Rick. This same thought is also shared by Kayleigh.

"Me too, you know she should do the decent thing and call off the wedding to him, as far as I'm concerned. She would feel like she's got a weight off her shoulders." Kayleigh takes this very thought a step further.

"Look at us..." John says suddenly while he's meant to be concentrating on driving them out of the staff car park.

"Completing each other's sentences. I get what you mean Johnathan." Kayleigh giggles.

"Hoping someone we work with, goes and dumps her horrible fiance. Imagine if we said this to Donna's face. You know she would end up banning us from attending the wedding." Donna was a nice staff colleague but the matter of fact was Rick had been trouble right from the start.

Kayleigh licks her lips seductively as if she were rudely attempting to change the topic of conversation. Sadly this was not for the reason, John assumed it was. "I'm hungry..."

"Funny you said this...so am I. Why don't I get us both a takeaway. We can have it in the car before I drop you off at your Mandy's. What d'ya reckon?" John checks with her first to see if she was fine with him making a last minute stop off at a local takeaway shop.

"Just as long as you buy me a nice dessert." Kayleigh doesn't really fancy the idea of trying a pizza slice. The only food she wants to snack on right now is a muffin or a mouthwatering strawberry cheesecake.

"I will, if you ask nicely, lady." John delights in winding her up.

"Don't be cheeky." Kayleigh gasped frivolously.

"Why, can't I?" John asked, with an extremely amused expression.

"Because that's my job, that's why...My sexy bear.." Kayleigh told him straight.

**xxx**

Kayleigh was now waiting for John to return with their food from the Super Mario takeaway outlet. She didn't fancy going inside it because she hated the smell of greasy food lingering in the air. John's phone lit up on the driver's seat where he had left it. It was making one of those noises you get when you normally receive a text message. She decided to take a sneak peak at who the text message was from, probably his brother or his mum asking if he mind Ben and Sophie for a few hours or when is he coming over to the house. What she saw on the screen was something she didn't quite expect, something what can be described as a sucker punch to the heart. A text message from a woman named Kerry. _Who the hell was Kerry?_

She carefully read the message which looked somewhat suspicious. Her heart sank suddenly. Had John been cheating on her with this woman or was there a perfectly ordinary explanation for him to put into fine detail.

'Hi John, thanks for the catch-up the other night. It was lovely to see you. Hope we can meet up again sometime, when you got free time on your hands' Kerry x'

John eventually returned into the car 20 minutes later. He soon found himself being met with a frosty reception from Kayleigh, who looked at him with tear-stained cheeks. She had clearly been crying during his brief absence. The mood had now clearly changed dramatically. She saw him shifting awkwardly in his seat, the moment he saw the hurt look in her eyes and expression.

"I were going to offer you a slice of my apple pie but I've got the feeling now might not exactly be the right moment to joke around. Look Kayleigh, whatever you seen on my phone..." John's gut feeling told him she must have read the text messages on his phone from his old school friend. He knows if he told her Kerry's identity and why they had met up, Kayleigh would never in a million years believe him. He would be accused of being unfaithful. He was genuinely tempted to tell her but had to stop himself from letting the cat out the bag. He could not do this yet because it would mean his brilliant birthday surprise for her, will be well and truly ruined.

"John I'm going to ask you a question and I want you to be completely honest with me. Have you been seeing this 'Kerry' behind my back?" Kayleigh sighed and looked stressful as she sat up in her seat. Bracing herself for the inevitable answer that awaited her from the man whom she believed, 'thought the world of her'.

John's hand reached over to retrieve her left hand. His birthday surprise for her was on the verge of backfiring spectacularly. He had to get it back on track before he ended up saying something which he might land him in hot water. "Kayleigh..."

**End of Chapter**

**All Reviews are Welcome**


	2. Chapter 2

**Car Share: It's All For You**

**Chapter 2**

Mandy was currently watching the neighbors entering and leaving their houses, from the front living room open window. She kept checking the time every five minutes or so on the antique clock which was placed on top of the limestone fireplace in the room. The time was now 7pm. John had never been late whenever he dropped Kayleigh off outside the house. The fact he was running late left Mandy wondering whether the couple might be stuck in the middle of traffic somewhere or perhaps by a twist of fate, John had made a blunder and was now telling Kayleigh what the surprise was which he had planned for her birthday. So much for keeping a secret if this was the reason for them being late.

The most surprising revelation that evening was the fact that Steve was inside the house for a change. At least he weren't spending another night 'effin' around with that beloved bike of his. The amusing excuse he had given her was, he really thought he didn't want to risk coming down with a cold and so he thought he would be better to stay in the warmth of the house rather than him _'freezing his balls off outside'._

"Christ Sake Mand... have a sit down will you. I'm sure Kayleigh won't want you making a big deal of why she's running late" Steve paused, as he tried to find the right form of reassuring words he can give to his wife, to convince she needn't be worrying too much over her sister. "I'm guessing she's probably busy making the most of her alone time and making plans for the weekend with John and the two of them have forgotten the time. Hey it happens to us all. I'm telling you those two are going to be inseparable over the holidays, once her birthday surprise is out the way."

"She's going to be thanking him forever for it. I'm really glad Our Kayleigh has finally found the man of her dreams." A reasonably pleased Mandy smiles to herself as she suddenly reflect on the conversation they shared last night and how the smile on Kayleigh's face looked like it would stay there forever. "She mentioned last night to me, that she's going to John's mum's house for New Year's Eve. Looks like this means I'll be on the phone to her of course at midnight...that's if I can hear her over those showoff fancy fireworks, which Martin down the road, always sets off from his back garden, for his kids." Martin who lived down the road was a right royal pain in the arse with his fireworks every Bonfire Night and New Year's Eve.

"I were thinking...You know, Kayleigh may as well move in together with John and before you go accusing me of trying to boot your sister out our house, I'm just pointing out the bloody obvious facts here." Steve says it like it is. Proving he's more than just a bike fanatic, Steve could tell two nights ago, from the looks on John and Kayleigh's face that the two lovebirds weren't ready to say goodnight to each other.

The love and closeness that John and Kayleigh shared, jogged Steve's memory of what his and Mandy's relationship was like in it's early stages. They were the same, they literally couldn't keep their hands off each other.

"What d'ya mean?" Mandy looks on with surprise at her husband. Did he genuinely mean he isn't going to any effort of getting Kayleigh to leave the Price family household in a matter of days?

"Well, she's practically staying at John's almost every night of the week. Plus she's always got that look about her everytime John drops her off that suggests, she would rather be back at John's than putting up with me and you having another pointless row." Steve reveals his impressive observation skills in more detail.

"Steve, they've only been dating for nearly three months. If they were living under the same roof, Kayleigh might end up driving John up the wall with her habits'" Mandy's thoughts on this matter were, she thought it might be a little too soon for John and Kayleigh to live together. Timing would no doubt be play it's part for when the couple decided to take that important next step in their relationship.

"What you going on about? Me and you took the plunge and moved in together after 2 and a half months. Besides if it's what Kayleigh honestly wants, moving in with John...then you can't really stand in her way, can you? At least support her. If this is what she wants." Steve hopes Mandy won't go and put her foot in it with her sister, by upsetting her with some wrong advice.

"Tell me, when did you decide to swap hobbies and decide to become a relationship expert?" Mandy asked, she was desperate to laugh. Her husband was being too smart for his own good.

"Since you left your laptop on upstairs the other day. I was using it to search for bike parts on eBay. I saw that the last page you looked at was a relationship advice website." Steve calmly calls her out about this previous occasion. He wasn't mad or upset or anything, he was just a tad disappointed she was spending her free time browsing at rubbish advice on a website he hadn't even heard of.

"Before you ask, I was doing it for a colleague of mine at work. She's having some relationship trouble with her other half" Mandy did not go into further detail on this colleague's name or what sort of relationship they were involved in. Steve wasn't entirely surprised to see her coming up with a last minute story.

Mandy soon catches sight of Kayleigh chatting to John on the pavement curb. She can't see much of John but she can see Kayleigh in deep conversation with him. Mandy sees Kayleigh stepping away from the car and then giving him a goodnight wave.

"Here comes Our Kayleigh...Hmm." The latest look on her sister's face suggested an argument must have happened between them. Kayleigh was giving an abashed look as she walked up towards the house.

"What?" Steve asked as he was busy removing his legs off the coffee table which was positioned in front of him and then jumped up from the sofa, he was now looking to grab something to eat from the fridge in the kitchen.

"Well she doesn't look happy.. put it that way." Mandy seeks to read the look on her face further but she's too slow, given how Kayleigh had reached the front door and her hand was rummaging in her pocket, for her house key.

"Two of them must have had a bust up." Steve has the strongest of feelings that John has gone and blown the birthday surprise. Hopefully it wasn't a big argument they'd had.

"Let's wait and see what she says first before we go jumping to conclusions"

"Sorry I'm late back. I'll explain everything." Kayleigh called to Mandy and Steve. The couple exchanged curious looks back and forth between each other.

**XXX**

**"**Oh Mand, John probably hates me for the stuff I said to him" Kayleigh feels terrible for the way she reacted in the car. She could see how John was strenuously doing all he can to persuade her, he would never ever have his head turned by another woman. He really did look worried that he was going to lose her for good.

"What? You accusing him of having an affair?" Mandy shook her head momentarily. She sighs in despair and tilts her head questioningly. Her sister could be a silly idiot sometimes but she knew it was because Kayleigh was afraid of being alone and unloved for the rest of her life.

"How was I supposed to know John has a female friend who is a transsexual..." Kayleigh addressed the issue but not quite as correctly as she believes she is doing.

"Don't you mean that she's a lesbian?" Mandy laughs as she corrects her sister on this well known fact.

"Oh..silly me to think they're the same thing when they're not...Ugh! Oh Mandy, I feel like such an idiot. Chasing away the man of my dreams because I let jealously stand in the way of my future happiness." Kayleigh is still replaying the argument in her head and regretting everything she said. Her heart sank reliving the moment, the smile on John's face faded and he became stressed out because she was refusing to believe him.

"You're definitely not an idiot, Kayleigh. I've been there myself and I know how it feels. Believe it or not I was always jealous of any female customers who hung around at Steve's old workplace when he was working as a mechanic. I'm just glad he quit after 6 months when he did... Anyway you... have got to find someway or another to reclaim your man's heart, Kayleigh." Mandy thinks her sister needs to find the most perfect and romantic of ways to prove to John she will always stand by him through no matter what potential barriers get in their way and will never stop loving him even if she's behaving incredibly annoying.

"Reclaim his heart?" Kayleigh asks questioningly. She can't recall ever hearing that term of phrase before.

"Oh you know what I mean...win him around for crying out loud. Make him see you're accepting the fact, that you know you were foolish to say those things you did to him." Mandy tries to get the message through to her loud and clear before she tries to comfort eat her way through her heartbreak. "Give him some time, he'll come round."

"You really think so?" Kayleigh is slowly coming around to the idea of giving John some time alone to think.

"Oh I'm certain of it." Mandy says with an assuring smile. One that surely make Kayleigh slightly suspicious of. Not so

"Anyway it's my birthday tomorrow. Still don't know what to expect tomorrow; A romantic meal for two or a music gig in town. John says there's one or two bands playing one off Christmas gigs." Kayleigh really did not know what to

"Did he now?" Mandy asked. She's suddenly left to wonder what on earth John was playing at! He had clearly dropped the hint to Kayleigh of what her birthday surprise would involve. The penny was bound to drop for Kayleigh between now and the next time the couple see each other, hopefully when they've kissed and made up.

"Mandy what's with the face?" Kayleigh asked suddenly. Mandy's face was reading as something which can only be described as 'a face of thunder'.

"My face?" Mandy doesn't realise the current look on her face was slowly beginning to become an obvious giveaway to and also that it can probably be even be seen from the likes of space.

"Your face. Don't tell me Steve's gone and upset you again? No wonder he's gone upstairs to spend more time with the kids." Kayleigh hadn't quite put two and two together just yet but it was only a matter of time before she would.

Mandy glanced directly at her reflection in the mirror. Seeing her extremely nervous body language staring back at her, stopped her doing pretty much anything else. _Shit! _She was going to need to talk her way out of this one.

"Mandy? You're very jumpy this evening. What's up with you? Haven't seen you this nervous since that time that dad told you, you couldn't bring any boyfriends to our old house but you went against him and tried to sneak Mark Barlow up to your bedroom behind mum and dad's backs." Kayleigh remembers this occasion well. Their mum and dad weren't best pleased when the two of them came face to face with Mark who was coming out of the upstairs bathroom.

"What makes you think I'm jumpy?" Mandy was never good at keeping things from her sister.

"Well, you were waiting by the door for me when I walked into the living room as if you were role-playing Mum and then Steve flew out the room soon as I turned round and asked why he wasn't bothering with spending time outside effing around with his bike. You can tell me, what's going on..."

"I'm not following" Mandy was regretting thinking badly of John. Kayleigh was turning into a right sleuth because of the many questions she was now asking.

"Okay you want to know...Me and Steve are planning to take you to a Silent Disco tomorrow night. John's given us the green lights for this."

"Oh Mandy that sounds brilliant. Why all the secrecy though?" Kayleigh asks, as she sits back on the sofa.

"It was meant to be a surprise until tomorrow morning. John wanted to give you the best surprise ever. You can still act surprised when you see John next. Apparently it's this new craze, he reckons you're going to love it."

"That's if he still wants to see me." Kayleigh sighs sadly. She knows Mandy's right, she just needs to stay hopeful that their relationship isn't over before things got exciting and to the point of where their relationship became serious between the two of them.

"Oh he will. I tell ya that man will be the biggest fool in the world if he decides to call it a day with you. Can't see him dong this. Do you want to know why? because John's been like a gentleman to you. He clearly cherishes the grounds you walk on." Mandy not one to waste another moment, reminded Kayleigh of how extremely lucky she was, to have a boyfriend like John and how she needs to hold onto him before some female colleague at work decides to make a play for him when she gets the opportunity is presented to her.

"Yeah he does. Oi Mandy stop fangirling over him will you. That's my job to do, not yours." Kayleigh thinks Mandy should butt out and leave her and John alone, to make up for lost time, which she knows would involve plenty of kissing and cuddling.

"What? I'm only trying to help...NOT fangirling over him. Anyway besides the only other person I'll ever fangirl over is that Aidan Turner off Poldark." Mandy knows if she weren't married, she would only ever see John as a friend, nothing more. Kayleigh's happiness was what mattered the most to her. She soon regretted mentioning her TV crush which had now resulted in her blushing considerably.

"And does Steve know about you swooning over Ross Poldark? What does he think? " Kayleigh couldn't resist seizing the chance of turning the tables on her sister.

"Of course he does. Steve thinks it's bloody hilarious" She can honestly say that she does not care what anyone thinks. What was wrong with fancying someone off the TV? It was one of the things which kept her and Steve's marriage afloat, the teasing about what stuff the other person liked and the

**xxx**

Kayleigh clutched her phone in her hand while she was busy texting John in bed. She spent 20 minutes browsing through the photos they had taken. John standing alongside the John Lennon statue in the Cavern Walks in Liverpool. God he looked gorgeous, in that leather jacket of his and doing some of his best poses. On the Sunday of that weekend the pair had spent practically all morning in their hotel room. In a way she had suggested her and John's sleep- in, they were paying a mini tribute to John Lennon and Yoko Ono. She recalls John laughing at first before giving a half nod with his head to agree with her.

She certainly succeeded in bombarding him with plenty of texts. She had spoken very frankly in her texts. Some were funny/typical Kayleigh and some were from the heart. She re-read the last three texts she sent him. "I was so hungry that I ate a full pack of Pink Wafers xx", Miss you so much John xxx" & "I don't want us to lose what we've got. I really regret jumping to the wrong conclusion about the text you got from your friend Kerry. Please text me when you see this message. Love Kayleigh xxxx" She placed her phone down and shut her eyes as soon as the back of her head touched the pillow.

Around 5:30am, little did Kayleigh know, John's car had now parked up in it's usual spot outside the Prices' house. Today was her 37th birthday and by god John was determined to make sure this special day of hers, will be one of those moments to tell their children, in the future, when they start asking questions about how mummy and daddy fell in love and what was the most romantic thing daddy done for mummy. His eyes keep darting between the glove department at two wrapped presents as well as glancing up at her bedroom window. The novelty heart lamp he bought for her was brightly illuminating the window.

At first John had convinced himself he may have chosen the wrong way about making Kayleigh think their relationship might be difficult to fix after their 'supposed' argument. However from reading through ten pages worth of her texts, he's reassured by the fact she obviously wants to fight to save their relationship. He thinks she might react somewhat annoyed when she realizes he wasn't upset with her in the first place and that it was part of his mega birthday surprise for her. Kayleigh had clearly taught herself an essential lesson since they'd begun courting, one of those goals she had conquered but sadly the same couldn't be said about the second one. The first one being was, never let love slip out of the palm of your hands and secondly, don't go making a fool of yourself over the silliest of things.

He takes his phone out of the compartment and types out a quick text before sending it to her.

**End of Chapter**

**All Reviews are Welcome**


	3. Chapter 3

**Car Share: It's All For You**

**Chapter 3**

"Alright John, pal. What you doing here bright and early? Thought you weren't picking up Kayleigh until this afternoon." Steve raised an eyebrow over why John had put in an appearance at least 6 hours early to see Kayleigh. He appeared to be carrying a bag full of goodies from the looks of things.

Alright Steve, I don't want to wake her. Listen, can you make sure she gets these before I see her later. I just really want everything to go according to plan, you know." John revealed to Steve, the wrapped presents he had brought with him. The identity of the presents were Kayleigh's eyes only, as soon as she unwrapped them.

"Christ you sound like me and Mandy started going out with each other. She was always hard to please and I always going to my mind, trying to prove to her that she was only the woman for me. So one day I got invited by mates to go and see the City and United derby at Old Trafford. I turned the offer down and decided I were going to propose to her at the top of Blackpool Tower instead. Soon as she saw the ring in my hand, she practically screamed all of Blackpool down." Steve proudly smiled to himself upon reflecting on this monumental day as if it had happened only yesterday.

"I wish I were that romantic." John didn't consider himself to be an actual real life Prince Charming. Being in love felt like a lifelong skill to maintain, which he still needed to master and prove to himself there was no need to feel scared of getting his heart broken. He felt blessed with the knowledge of having Kayleigh being a permanent part of his life and her helping him to teach one or two important benefits of love.

"You know what I think John." Steve can tell from the big soppy look that was currently on John's face, that the Supermarket Assistant Manager must have been doing a lot of thinking overnight. Perhaps he regretted putting the crybaby act on in front of Kayleigh and was wishing he had been a little bit more upfront with her instead. Still Steve was really pleased to see him looking his normal happily-in-love self.

"What?" John gave a look which was rather telling, that perhaps he knows what Steve is on the verge of telling him and that he ought to make sure Kayleigh doesn't gain the attention of any unwanted admirers.

"I think you've been wrestling with the idea of when you're going to propose to her." Steve tells John what he had told Mandy last night.

"Proposing? No I'm not quite there yet, Steve." John told him. He knows he wasn't entirely telling the truth, seeing as he was secretly keeping Nana Rose's engagement ring in the car. " I just need time and the right moment for when I know I want to make Kayleigh 'My wife'. Last time I proposed to an ex, my heart was never in it because she ended up getting the wrong idea about something that I'd said, about how people should be married by the time they're 35 and before I knew it, I ended up on one knee with no ring, proposing to her. I wasn't ready. I felt like running away there and then but I couldn't. Her and my mum never saw eye to eye. Charlotte never once gave my mum a look in on the arrangements for our wedding. She proper kicked off at her for that, it were the day before me and Charlotte broke off our engagement."

"That's awful. What a snobby bitch. Bet it must have been a huge relief when she walked out of your life." Steve was intrigued. He thinks John definitely had a lucky escape from that previous relationship.

"Yes it was. It wasn't that Charlotte was horrible...horrible or anything but her mum was always unbearable, following her around and encouraging her to go with her own instincts, ignore other people's suggestions. Marriage would have never worked between me and Charlotte...not in a million years. The two of us will have been divorced after a month" It felt as though he had lifted a massive weight off his shoulders, by finally admitting the truth of how he thinks life might have treated him if he and Charlotte had stayed together a little bit longer than they did.

John glanced up at Kayleigh's bedroom, smiling fondly and longingly as he did so. The neon Novelty Heart lamp was still making it's presence known, by shining brightly inside the window. It was exactly at that very moment, that he was joyfully reminded of the very many precious moments in which he had shared with Kayleigh from the very first day of their car sharing journey. The disaster that was 'Pissgate', come to think of it, this had actually been very funny whenever one of them brought it up during one of their conversations.

The various claims he made about not wishing to find love wasn't because the real truth was as a matter of fact was that he had secretly been hopeful of finding love again after splitting up with Charlotte. But little did he realise, those 8 blissful and memorable weeks of Car Sharing - the love of his life, the woman he was destined to spend the rest of his life with, had in fact been sitting next to him the entire time.

"John?!" The sound of Steve's voice snapped John out of his latest daydream.

"Eh?" From the excited look presently expressed on John's face, he certainly looked as if he wanted to stay stuck in his daydream forever.

"I know you love Kayleigh you do know you've been staring at her bedroom window for ten minutes." Steve shook his head and chuckled. Christ John was behaving like one lovesick puppy, waiting for his other half to put in an appearance.

"Have I? Oh sorry...I've been doing that a lot lately." John tries to laughs off his very visible embarrassment, the only way he knows possible. There was no denying the fact that John was considering the choice of proposing to Kayleigh but Steve decides not push him further over this. He didn't wish to cause a bother or any upset by getting him to open up about it. Besides he had already kept him talking for the last 30 minutes. Kayleigh would be downstairs for Breakfast soon.

"I can tell...Go on pal, you might as well get off home and start getting yourself ready for this afternoon." Steve didn't want to keep John hanging around another minute longer, in case by chance Kayleigh may have heard the two of them.

John smiled to himself as he briefly gazed up at Kayleigh's bedroom window before then making to return back to his car but suddenly remembers he's got one more thing to mention. "Umm Steve one more thing, can you sure pass on a message to her for me."

"Roger." Steve was more than happy to do this favour for him.

"Tell Kayleigh not to go accidentally squeezing the bloody life out of me once she sees the tickets" John laughed. He remembers how much of a hugger she can be, whenever she's received good news.

"You put the tickets inside the envelope?" Steve was surprised to learn that John didn't want to keep Kayleigh in the dark at least for another couple of hours.

"Yeah, well I can't very well keep my surprise birthday secret for her any longer can I? Knowing Kayleigh she'll find some way to get the truth out of me, one way or another" John is extremely certain of the fact, that Kayleigh would resort to desperate measures if the opportunity arose for her.

"She'll be following Mandy's go to rule-book of not letting your man get away with keeping secrets from you" Steve wonders whether he ought to tell John the full story of the one time Mandy where he was virtually in the same position where he could keep his and Mandy's honeymoon holiday a secret from her but ended up getting prized away from his motorbike one night and seduced by her, so she could get the truth out of him, which she easily achieved.

"What do you mean?" John has an inkling as to what Steve's hinting at but wants him to clarify what he means.

"You'd better watch Kayleigh doesn't start go ripping your clothes off once she knows how you've gone out your way for with those tickets to the you-know-what gig tonight." Steve thought he ought to warn him in case Kayleigh gives Mandy an unwanted headache later that evening with her frisky antics.

"Aye, I can't see that happening, Steve. Think the two of us might end up feeling knackered later..." John believes Kayleigh might wear herself out. He was excited at the prospect of staying over at Mandy's tonight because Kayleigh had asked him a couple of days ago, if he would like to spend her birthday night with him. "It's going to be the best night of her life guaranteed." John promises her. Little did he or Steve know that Kayleigh had been listening to the two of them chatting.

Mandy, still in her light pink striped pyjamas, seized the perfect opportunity of tiptoeing downstairs and surprising her sister, who for some unknown reason had decided to keep herself ambiguously hidden behind the front door while she was listening to what John and Steve were both saying outside. As Mandy got sneaked up closer behind her, she could hear Kayleigh crying.

"What's up now?" Mandy asked. She never got the response she expected. It was as if Kayleigh had psychically known her sister had been quietly standing half way up the stairs for the last ten minutes.

"Oh Mand. John's been planning a surprise for my birthday. That's why he's been so distant with me. I love him, love so much." Since waking up at 6am, she found herself missing the warmth of John's arms around her waist, hugging her romantically from behind.

"Well you see the thing is...me and Steve were pretty much in on this. John told us not to say anything to you." Mandy eventually gives in and tells her. She had to tell Kayleigh, so she can enable herself to get this weight off her shoulders.

"Why you feeling so guilty for? I'm not upset with you and Steve. I'm just surprised neither of you accidentally let it slip...that's all"

"What do you mean? I don't let anything accidentally slip." Mandy scoffed. She thinks Kayleigh has got her very wrong because she knows all too well that she's far more better than her older sister at keeping a secret.

"Well for a start, Mandy you're not as good at keeping a secret for more than a few hours. You're terrible. Remember when you tried to keep Kieran's Birthday surprise a secret from him but you got drunk one night, while you and him were out on the town, partying. You bumped into your colleague Sally from work, who you then invited to his birthday party because you thought you could play matchmaker for her and Kieran. You didn't know he'd overheard you. I'm surprised you helped to keep my birthday surprise for this long." Kayleigh giggles while she is intentionally identifying one or two flaws in Mandy's claim. One thing Kayleigh was very good was at, was picking up on the signs of when Mandy is lying and right now she knew she was doing exactly this.

"We only knew only for a week." Mandy eventually decides to be straight with her, by telling the truth. She reveals how long her and Steve had actually known for. John himself had kept the birthday surprise to himself for over a month.

"I just feel like going out there and grabbing the bag off John and snogging his face off."

"You'll love it Kayleigh. I think it's romantic. He said he had a friend, who was give him free tickets to a gig."

"Kerry! His friend Kerry...Of course." Everything starts to make sense to Kayleigh. The secret catch-up he had with his female friend a few days ago. She had obligingly provided him with these tickets. He hadn't wanted her to find out straight away because he respected her wishes "Whose gig are the tickets the for?"

John was heading back to his car when he heard an high-pitched excited scream coming from the house, presumably from the front living room. The scream made Steve jump and abandon his bike under the gazebo. He hurried inside the house to see what had happened. John followed in pursuit but chose not to enter the house, he was instantly respecting the Prices wishes in case one of the kids or Mandy had just had a bad accident. Much to Steve and John's surprise before either of Kayleigh and Mandy's other halves could ask 'what's going on?' Kayleigh sprinted out from the front door and leapfrogged herself into John's arms, and smothered him with kisses in the process.

"I take it you told Kayleigh then?" Steve asks while he and Mandy happily watch on at the unfolding romantic scene in front of them.

"Pretty much. Take That are her favourite band ever. She's never seen them before and the fact that John has gone and got tickets for the two of them. Is the most loveliest thing that anyone can do for someone they love."

"I love you so much John. I can't believe you went and got Take That tickets for the two of us. I can't thank you enough" Kayleigh proclaimed as soon the loved up couple pulled away for space. Both take a moment to glance over their shoulders before returning their attention back to lovingly gazing into each other's eyes. Within a matter of seconds, they find themselves giggling together, when reality soon hits them, that they've now attracted quite a crowd of noisy neighbours and perhaps the two of them making a public display of affection, probably ought to have been saved until later that day. She unwrapped her legs from around his waist and got back down to a standing position but still held her arms around the back of his neck.

"Right noisy lot Mandy's neighbours are, aren't they?" John tells her.

"Tell me about it." Kayleigh nods her head, agreeing with him.

"I know you haven't see what's written on the tickets yet but I'm really happy that you love that I wanted to make sure you have the best Birthday ever tonight. Open your Birthday card" John grins, he makes his intention known, wanting her to see for herself what information is on the tickets.

Kayleigh removes her hands from his now tousled hair and takes a short walk over to Steve, taking the bag containing her presents and birthday card from him. She literally cannot wait to open the card and see what John's written for hands tremble with excitement as she peels the envelope up and slips the card out. It's a handcrafted card, with 'KAYLEIGH' in golden letters on the centre of the card.

"Me Nana handmade it for you. You've got her to thank for it." John rests his hand on her shoulder and fondly read the changeable expression on her face, which ranged from not knowing what to expect to extremely excited.

"Awww John!" Kayleigh pulls him close towards her. She leans in to whisper in his ear. "I could kiss those gorgeous lips of yours all day and night if I could but Our Mandy and Steve are watching and so I'd rather not."

"Read what's on the tickets..." John points to the envelope. She hadn't bothered to slip the tickets out from the envelope shaped pink paper.

"I don't have to read what's on them. You've already told me, they're Take That tickets." Kayleigh looked pretty content and laid-back now she knew she have the pleasure of attending her first ever Take That concert. Lord knows what she will be like later that day, John can't help but wonder.

"No...look at what else is mentioned on them beneath the Take That logo." John sighs. Although Kayleigh's sense of awareness on certain things was not quite as good as his, this well known fact did not scare him off from loving her. In fact it made him love her even more than he could possibly have ever imagined. She was quite frankly the woman of his dreams. The woman he knows he is going to be sharing the rest of his life with.

She eventually followed John's advice not her own, by slipping the tickets out from inside the envelope and taking a close look at them. Kayleigh gasped, covering her mouth with her hand as soon as it dawns on her what John was waffling on about a few minutes earlier. "Oh my god! Front row seats! Front row seats John!" She nearly screamed at the top of her voice when saying this but managed to stay surprisingly calm because she knew they were still annoyingly being watched. She was toying with the idea of putting on

"You see while I was having a catchup with Kerry. We got talking about our other halves. I told her about you and how you'd always wanted to see Take That in concert one day. She said she works for their PR Management and that she would try and do her best to get you and me tickets for one of their tour dates at the Manchester arena. She posted them to me the other day."

Kayleigh smartly had her back turned to Mandy, so her younger sister couldn't get a full glimpse of the expression she had on her face. Kayleigh had suddenly become unusually quiet for the next ten minutes or so. John was going to ask if she wanted him to take her back inside the house. t was only when John glanced back at his car, Kayleigh seized the perfect moment to reward him another kiss. "Oh sod it!"

"Eh?" John partly smiled. He could easily tell from the flustered look which now had on her face, she wanted nothing more to snog his face off in the street, regardless of whoever was still hanging around watching their every movement. Kayleigh enticingly tugged him towards her and proceeded to give him a memorable kiss, one which he will have no problem with remembering for the rest of his life. They locked lips passionately much to the amusement of Steve and the 'alright lovebirds, not in front of the kids' look currently on Mandy's face.

**xxx**

That morning Kayleigh had enjoyed a morning full of surprises including a Face-time conversation with Kieran, who was unfortunately having to spend another Christmas in Afghanistan. He wished her a Happy Birthday and said he hoped Mandy was spoiling her with birthday presents left, right and centre. Mandy flicked him two fingers in the background. She also told her brother all about John and how she had fallen in love with him. Kieran thought it was quite romantic.

John now wearing his snazziest shirt and party trousers was driving back to Bury to pick up Kayleigh for the gig. He phoned Kerry on Kayleigh's behalf to thank her for the tickets. While they'd been chatting, there were a couple of moments during their phone conversation of when John would suddenly go quiet. In truth he was reflecting on the exact moment Kayleigh's reaction to seeing the tickets in her hands and how it warmed the cockles of his heart. Whenever the lovestruck couple happened to be miles apart or mere minutes away from each other, they would find themselves always texting each other; asking which show the other was watching on the TV, as well as admitting how much they wished they were snuggling up with the other and staying that way for hours until falling asleep.

Soon as he got out the car and appeared in view, he was met by loud laughter from Steve. "No offence John but it's hardly the 1990s these days." Steve considered John to be a top bloke but as he saw him standing there looking like he had the dress sense of a 21 year old, he didn't want to see him being ridiculed for it.

"I know but I want to make mine and Kayleigh's night at the arena seeing Take That, make her feel as if she's reliving the Take That heyday of the 1990s" John was outright determined to go out his way for her like he'd previously done for her on many occasions. According to Kayleigh, most of her past birthdays had been ones she would rather forget. The only previous birthday she enjoyed was her 21st birthday. She told John she celebrated it while she was getting a much needed tan and letting her hair down while she and Mandy were partying in Ibiza.

"That's a very lovely thing of you to do for Kayleigh." Steve voiced his thoughts on seeing what John was doing for Kayleigh. John was quite a romantic man at heart, even more than he himself tried to be with Mandy!

"I've never done anything like this before, so you see it's a first for me and her." John had clearly shaken off what ever nerves and had decided to grab the bull by the horns. Reward Kayleigh with a memorable night, Christ knows she needed it especially after her run in with Rachel a few days ago. Rachel had been flaunted her new boyfriend Dan off in front of her fellow colleagues and was telling them that Dan was much way better looking boyfriend than Mr Redmond was to Kayleigh.

Her smugness had left the Promotions Rep fuming and her wondering whether she should take the opportunity to tear Rachel's hair out for ridiculing John. How dare she! Luckily John had been on hand to prevent his girlfriend from getting herself a potential written warning or even worse, getting handed her P45. He hadn't even given work much of a thought until just now but getting it off his mind came as quite a relief.

"Make sure Kayleigh doesn't lose her voice tonight." Steve tells him before Kayleigh eventually puts in an appearance.

"Eh?" John asks, responding with a curious look. He then smiles, thinking to himself, Kayleigh's making sure she's getting herself into the festive mood with that Now Christmas CD of hers.

"Her and Mandy were having a Frozen singalong with Chloe during breakfast this morning. Proper singing at the top of their voices those two were. Surprised Kayleigh didn't film it and send it to you John." Steve laughs as he reflects on the events of that morning.

Kayleigh steps out of the house. Her hair looked straighter than usual. John honestly didn't mind which style she did her hair, 'like Carol Decker dragged through a hedge backwards' or like '1990s Madonna after getting off a rollercoaster' she was still the most beautiful woman in the world. She was wearing her denim jacket, Take That with the 'TT' symbol in gold T-shirt and stretch jeans.

"Well look at you Johnathan! Quite the Disco king" Kayleigh said as she smiles lovingly at him.

"Have fun at the Take That concert, lovebirds." Steve amusingly teased them by saying this out loud. Kayleigh shot him a quick 'alright keep your voice down, you bike obsessed freakoid' look in response. John caught the look she gave Steve and couldn't resist the urge to laugh.

He led her towards the car and then opened the passenger door for her. She got in and John did too on his side moments later. John turned to face her but before a single word could escape his lips, he found them being met by Kayleigh's lips instead and the desire to kiss hers passionately overwhelming him. He brought his right hand up to caress her cheek and held it. She closed her eyes and soon enjoyed the feel his large hand now cupping her face.

The couple pulled away two or three minutes later after sharing their satisfying and lustful kiss. "Sorry I don't know what came over me. I guess the first thing I wanted to do was kiss those gorgeous lips of yours. Oh John, I hope you don't think I'm sex mad."

"Of course I don't think you're sex mad. You're just simply showing me how you've missed me, even though it's only been a few hours." John beams. He's got to admit he is clearly growing fond of witnessing this carefree and passionate side of her. Not giving a fuck who sees them kissing. The fact she asked him, if she was making herself look like sex obsessed, certainly didn't half make him chuckle. They were soon off on their way towards Manchester City Centre.

**xxx**

While on the car journey, Kayleigh had used her persuasive powers, convincing John to join in and have a singalong with her. Without asking for his permission, she slid her copy of Take That's Greatest Hits into the Car CD's player and pressed 'Play'. Kayleigh miss-sung one of the lyrics while caused John to nearly piss himself laughing.

"Wash Your Back? Wash Your Back For Good!..." John laughed louder as he repeated the misheard lyric she just sung. Kayleigh's cheeks blushed brightly.

"Don't...don't. I feel embarrassed now." Kayleigh suddenly feels pretty flustered and mortified over the fact that she got this song lyric hilariously wrong.

"What you feeling embarrassed for? It's only one song lyric." John tries to reassure her, she's got nothing at all to feel ashamed about. He figures the excitement of getting to see Gary, Mark and Howard singing on stage in front of her, must becoming all too much for her.

"I've idolized them since I was a teenager. Of course I'm bound to get embarrassed about mishearing one of the song lyrics John." Kayleigh cringed her face. Oh she thought she was going to cry right there and then and end up sinking down in her seat.

"Don't be daft...look come here. Give me a cuddle if you fancy" John let a sigh and signaled for her to cuddle him, she was quite happy to, if it meant getting to hug him as much as possible throughout the evening and during Gary's piano performances.

"Are you sure, you're fine with me hugging the life out of you?" Kayleigh double checked with him because she didn't wish to hurt him with one of her strongest hugs!

"Oh no I don't fancy getting the life out of me. I'll end up having arms like Stretch Armstrong, the more longer you hug me." John gave an awkward look but soon changed her mind, the more he gave it some considerable thought, the more he begun to eventually find the funny side of this.

"Shut up. ...You know I'm just messing with you." Kayleigh makes it perfectly clear, she hasn't really got any intention of squeezing him too tightly and isn't considering the tempting thought of spontaneously pinching that delightful arse of his...well not least until later tonight when they're back at his house, recovering from the best night out of their lives.

"Hope so. I don't want to be walking past the security guards, looking like you've marked me for life with those unpredictable fingernails of yours." John jokingly reveals what he hopes won't happen the exact moment they enter the arena together and come under the watchful eyes of the security guards.

"Cheeky fish." She shook her head and then laughed. Her laugh was infectious to listen to. She was still laughing by the time she finally decided to casually her head on his fell asleep briefly for a quarter of the journey into the City Centre. John woke her as soon as he was pulling up into the arena's car park.

"Kayleigh...Darling..." John being the esteemed gentleman he had grown to become; gently nudged her arm and whispered in her ear, so he can inform her they were now at the arena. John pulls away a moment later. He fixed his gaze on her from the exact second she slowly begun to open her eyes and acknowledged him and their new unfamiliar surroundings. John had never called her "Darling" before but it was safe to say, she certainly loved the way he pronounced it in his cheeky and lovable Bolton accent. Uncharacteristically, she doesn't open her mouth but is looking at him as if she considering the possibility of having her wicked way with him there and then, a fact which doesn't get unnoticed by John, who couldn't quite figure out what was going on in that head of hers.

"What?" John knows he's seen one too many of those sweet-natured looks of hers before. Ones which seemed to suggest she's got more on her mind than watching Gary Barlow right in front of her and Mark Owen strutting his stuff on stage.

"You called me Darling." She beams up at him and fluttered her eyelashes beautifully, as she lifted her hand up to his cheek, to caress it.

"Did I?"John gives a side smirk. "Oh I don't remember." He's cheekily lying to her, which Kayleigh is certain of. His eyes are wandering, back and forth between her and at the other Take That loyal fans arriving for the gig tonight.

"John you literally just said this 10 seconds ago." She isn't having his misbehaving act, not one bit.

"Oh yeah I did." John says as if he's just suddenly been struck by a Eureka moment.

"Johnathan Redmond! Oh you're asking for it Mister" Kayleigh makes it clear she isn't falling for his cheeky lie. She's laughing so much that she doesn't care who might be watching them.

"Asking for what?" John asks.

"Oi don't be a smart arse" Kayleigh shoves his arm playfully. Once she knew she got him humorously outraged, she quickly unfastened her seatbelt and opened the passenger door.

"Me a smart arse?! Charming!" John said. He couldn't take his eyes off her and even her bum while she was leaving the car.

"Eyes off my My Dempsey and Makepeace, Johnathan" Kayleigh said as she glanced over her shoulder at John and wore a saucy smile on her face.

"Your Dempsey and Makepeace?" John couldn't keep a straight face. Honestly these nicknames she had for her breasts and now her bum. It was no wonder, he had so many the tears of laughter rolling down his cheeks everytime she happened to refer to them. "Come on let's get in the building before Dempsey tries to get the better of Makepeace eh." John suggested with a cheeky wink.

Kayleigh took one look at him and gave him a look which could only be described as a 'You've definitely been spending far too much time with Steve'. They held each other's hands as they entered the main part of the building.

**End of Chapter**

**All Reviews are Welcome**


	4. Chapter 4

**Car Share: It's All For You**

**Chapter 4**

John hadn't been to the arena since the time he took Ben and Sophie to see the Monster Trucks, the other month. He remembers how noisy that night those trucks were especially Nitro and the mighty Grizzly who both ended up having a competition to see who was the loudest out of the two. He also recalls the amount of ringing he felt in his left ear as he, Ben and Sophie were leaving the arena together. Hopefully Take That weren't going to leave him nursing a banging headache. He hadn't said a word since the two of them had left the car park and entered the main part of the building.

"John what's the matter?" Kayleigh broke the silence. She was hopeful of finding out the reason behind his sudden silence. 'Was he feeling overcome with tiredness after making the two trips up to Bury? Was he feeling weighed down with pressure, over buying last minute Christmas presents for his family?'

"Nothing. Well actually...I just can't wait to sit down in our seats, if I'm honest. Standing up on my feet for ages isn't really my thing. I always leave for it 30 minutes when me and Jim are playing one of our gigs.I sit down on one of the chairs on the stage " John preferred sitting at concerts rather than standing on his feet and making himself look like an overexcited child.

Kayleigh pulls an 'Aww' face as her eyes fleetingly glance down at his boots. She looks up at him. "Another thing you and Steve have in common with each other. You both don't like being on your feet for long. Johnathan you need to stop worrying what other people think and show them you don't give a shit what they think, if they think you're acting like an old man who hasn't got much walking left him in at the end of the day." Kayleigh's words were completely out of the blue yet quite comforting and wonderful to hear.

"Get you being the caring and protective one for a change." He can't say he's hardly surprised by the fact, they've swapped roles in their relationship this evening. She had looked more perked up for the gig more so than him, even though he was responsible for grabbing them free tickets from Kerry in the first place.

"Well if you want to know, I might have accidentally watched a few episodes of This Morning on the ITV Player." Kayleigh reveals the source behind where she's picked up her tips of advice from.

"Don't tell me you've become an admirer of Philip Schofield too." John surprisingly asks, while they walk up the middle section and try to locate if their seats are on the left-hand side or right-hand side.

"No. Why you asking for?" Kayleigh assumes John may not be a fan of Philip's. She's soon proved right as he quickly confirms this.

"Well, it's me mum. You see, she thinks Philip Schofield is a TV God because you know he's always on the telly so much with one of his shows but I reckon that silver haired fox wants nothing but TV domination."

"Perhaps you need to put down that guitar of yours and...maybe consider making a new career change John."

"Eh?" John pulls a 'this should be good' face.

"You becoming a Body Language expert" Kayleigh suggested. John responds with a snort of laughter, as he remembers something recently she did and is soon quick to remind her of this hilarious moment.

"Ha! Says the woman who thought that whatshisname off First Dates was Italian"

"Who? Gino De Camp?" Kayleigh hilariously mispronounces the popular This Morning chef's surname.

"Gino D'ACampo, cloth ears. No I mean Fred Siriex, you do know he's French not Italian..." John calmly corrected her on this. She could never tell the difference between the two languages.

"Ooh la la." Kayleigh openly giggled and flashed one of her many flirtatious expressions, which John had grown to adore since they had officially begun courting. She briefly glanced at their tickets and saw that the two of them were in fact standing alongside the row of seats. Their seats were half way along "Oh oh our seats be further along here." Kayleigh takes the lead and tugs onto John's hand as she excitedly leads him towards their seats.

"Steady on, Kayleigh love." John chuckled. "Don't be trying to knacker me out, so you can jump on stage and get Gary Barlow to sing you a love song while I'm sat on my arse and can't move off it."

"What?! Like as if I would...or would I?" Kayleigh teased as she gave a mischievous look over her shoulder at him. She then returned her complete attention to checking their ticket receipts again which had '1K & 1L reserved' printed on them. God she was desperate to sit down right now.

"You're such a balloon you" John highlights her clearly not-well-thought-out attempt to deny his claim. Kayleigh suddenly stops walking, John takes it, he's either ruined the moment here with his remark or she's finally had success in locating their seats.

"We're here. Let's sit down. My feet are killing me in these shoes." Kayleigh informs him. They waste no time in taking their seats. Kayleigh unbuttons her jacket but keeps it on. She catches John from the corner of her eye giving her cheeky, sneaky glances at Cagney and Lacey. He's got his eye on Cagney right at that very moment. She thinks it's cute that he's made a connection with her favourite breast.

Take That's stage set looked absolutely gigantic, particularly with what appeared to be a catwalk, outstretching half of the length of the arena. It was definitely ten times bigger than the Monster Trucks showcase. "Are Take That putting on a fashion show by any chance are they, during the interval?" It was John's turn to have a laugh and tease Kayleigh. She responded by playfully slapping his shoulder.

**xxx**

Kayleigh was in utter heaven and at times very nearly became weak at the knees whenever Gary and Howard would choose to sing right in front of her. John wasn't at all jealous, in fact he had taken it upon himself to record her reactions and part of the gig on his phone, as his way of making her birthday night be an unforgettable experience.

"John don't you dare!" Kayleigh knew he was trying to do close ups of her, singing along at the top of her voice to the likes of Never Forget and Shine. Christ she had a belter of a voice tonight. John wonders whether she might end up earning herself a duet with Gary.

"What?! Don't worry I'm not gonna post it on Twitter or Facebook or anything. This is staying saved on my phone only!" John couldn't hear himself think let alone hear himself shouting this to her.

Luckily for John, Kayleigh had heard and understood what he was trying to tell her. She gazed lovingly at him and thinks_ "Aww" _John really was the sweetest man in the whole wide world. Putting hers and his family's best interests/feelings before his own. He truly was one of a kind. A true gentleman. She assumes his dad must have given him a very long prep talk before he sadly passed away, about what his eldest son should do when he finds the love of his life. She does recall John mentioning a few months ago, one or two things his dad had said - 'Don't screw everything up' and 'Treat her with respect and all the love you can give her'

"Oh my god John I'm having the best night of my life. Thank you...I love you..." Kayleigh then took smartly advantage of this romantic moment between the two of them, by rewarding him with as many kisses as possible.

"Give over we're on camera here. I'm not sure Alfie and Chloe will want to see their Auntie Kayleigh snogging Uncle John's face off." John's cheeks were blushing brightly while he was making every effort to not be drawn into full on kissing with her. He didn't mind her smothering him with kisses elsewhere. He didn't want them upstaging Take That either. He knows he and Kayleigh would be making up for lost time as soon they're back in the car.

"John! Mandy wouldn't think twice about showing them your video of us. We are allowed to smooch whenever he want to." Kayleigh doesn't see any problem in them snogging even on camera. John thinks_ "Sod it"_ and acts on instinct, drawing an arm around her waist and towards him. They locked lips, sharing a kiss which was as mind-blowing and utterly beautiful as any type of kiss could ever be.

Kayleigh pulls away for a breather first. She looks flustered. John smiles knowing he's left this effect on her. Once he's composed himself and carefully uses his thumb to wipe away any smudged lipstick that was still on his right cheek, he suddenly sees that the camera light on the phone is still filming. He had expected the running time to have run out on its own by now, it clearly hadn't.

"You don't think anybody else saw us kissing do you?" Kayleigh reckons, the fans sitting and standing nearby wouldn't have taken any blind bit of notice of them.

"Only Take That and about 20,000 people" John directs her attention towards the audience widescreen on the edge of the left-hand side of the stage. Their kiss will have undoubtedly been captured on the screen. Kayleigh buries her face in his shoulder. She's absolutely mortified as well as crying with tears of laughter, which John can hear her doing.

Kayleigh tiptoed on her toes to whisper a thought in his right ear. "Oh John, I think we may have gone and stolen the limelight from Gary Barlow" Kayleigh continues to conceal her embarrassment while Take That are now singing Everything Changes.

"Aye. It's like you said. We've stolen the limelight from Take That, haven't we and with that being said..." John grasps her hand. She removed her head from his shoulder, so she can gaze up adoringly into his eyes. He reveals one more thing she hadn't seen coming, an engagement ring.

"John! Are you proposing to me?" Kayleigh mouths to him as best she could over the loud screaming. She watches him getting down on one knee. He's careful to make sure he doesn't accidentally get knocked over onto his arse by the three female fans nearby, who seem to be themselves making quite a scene. One of them even attempted to crawl on the stage.

John simply nodded his head to confirm. He next handed her three A4 cards with had handwritten messages on them. Kayleigh meticulously read the first card.

'Kayleigh Kitson you have made me the happiest man in the whole world. I didn't know I could feel this way about anyone until I fell in love with you. That day last June when Beyonce's Single Ladies greeted me on your doorbell, I knew this same-old-routine of mine was on the verge of getting the arse kicking for the better.'

Card 2 read;'You might be thinking John's got out his way for me for my birthday and Take That is the icing on the cake tonight...I'm afraid they're not. This is what I've been waiting to do since we had that talk three weeks ago about our future together. I wanted to ask the beautiful woman I know, the most important question ever...Will she do me the honour of becoming my wife. And yes I mean you lady...Kayleigh." John clarifies this very question is intended only for her.

John produced the ring right before her eyes and held it out. She happily gives him, her official answer in record time. "Yes...yes I'll marry you John. Now get up before these three fans, knock you off your perch." She mouths to him.

Much to her relief, he does slowly get up off his knee and then being the out-and-out gentleman he was, he carefully slipped the ring on her left middle finger. The newly engaged couple then embraced each other with a soft lingering kiss followed by a pleasurable hug. Mark Owen had witnessed the proposal moment while he was energetically jumping around on the stage, singing the last line of the song.

Gary gives a speech before the group are due to leave the stage together. "We hope you've all had the best night tonight seeing me, Mark and Howard performing here in this wonderful arena. Always means a lot to three of us to come home and sing especially in front of our amazing fans. Mark has just informed me, we have a couple here tonight, who have just got engaged. I just want to say Congratulations to them."

"John! Oh my godd! Mark Owen saw you proposing to me. Our Mandy's going to be well jealous."

"Why?" John couldn't hear her that well. The crowd were getting annoyingly louder the more Gary Barlow kept on talking.

"Because Mark's her favourite member of Take That. Oh you should have seen the posters she had on her bedroom wall when we were teenagers. Always had a huff when mum tried to persuade her to take them down."

"Typical teenage fan." John chuckles, knowing very well he's been there himself and worn the t-shirt to go along with it. "Aye I were the same with Bananarama. Had one or two posters on my bedroom wall. Our Paul were always winding me about liking their music."

"Oh, you're a dark horse. So, you loved listening to Bananarama songs when you were younger?" Kayleigh was rather keen to learn more about her fiance's previous music influences.

"Aye. I were well into any music from the 1980's not just Bananarama, I had every Pet Shop Boys and Duran Duran album that they released." John felt confident enough to tell Kayleigh which other musicians/groups' music he also listened to.

"Well that's quite a revelation I thought I wouldn't hear, my fiance a Bananarama fan. Just so you know I want Venus as my entrance wedding song..."

"Alright keep your voice down...Miss News of the World." John knew Kayleigh well enough to know, that she would re-change her wedding song entrance endless times, to make it sound just that extra bit special and memorable on the day itself.

They gathered their belongings and started to follow the last of the Take That fans who were pouring out through the main entrance to the arena. What John and Kayleigh didn't know was that the group themselves were ready and waiting to greet the couple.

"Still can't believe you proposed to me while Take That were singing." Kayleigh couldn't quite believe John had pulled off the most romantic of surprises.

"I know. I didn't fancy getting up on stage and proposing in front of 20.000 people did I." John said with a sheepish look.

"And you call yourself a singer, Johnathan...Unbelievable" Kayleigh sniggered. She could sense John's embarrassment,the very moment she caught him glancing around, to see if anyone had rudely eavesdropped on their conversation. When they exited through the doorway. John thought he heard a familiar voice.

Gary Barlow stepped out in front of them. "You must be John and Kayleigh. Kerry's told us all about you two. We've signed some merchandise for you and also written you song lyrics for your wedding. You could always change them John. So nobody suggests they sound like song lyrics that Gary Barlow would write." Kayleigh gasped. She was completely starstruck by the sight of Gary standing there right before her.

"What do you mean?" John assumed Kerry must have told Gary that he was himself a songwriter.

"Well, you're a songwriter aren't you?"

"Aye I am."

"Well John, my advice to you is keep doing your songwriting and maybe one day you might get yourself a record deal." Gary gave him the kind of advice he had given upcoming artists in recent years. At that precise moment John wanted to pinch to make sure he and Kayleigh weren't dreaming this encounter with Gary Barlow.

"Mark's just getting you a bag for your merchandise." Gary updates them.

"What's Howard doing?" Kayleigh asks unexpectedly. Gary and John look at each other and then burst out laughing at the same time.

"He's getting a massage. Always has one after we've finished every tour show." Gary tells her once he's calmed down.

"Oh right." Kayleigh displays a 'tell me more' face. However when she sees John's 'We best get wriggle on' face, she soon wishes she had kept this question to herself.

"Oh here's Mark." Gary said as soon as he saw him hurrying along the corridor.

"Sorry Gary. The dressing room was jam packed with the dancers who were having a dance off and I wanted to join in with it but I couldn't, plus I couldn't get to the merchandise right away." Mark explained. He was genuinely out of breath. Like he had just completed a few laps around the corridors of the arena. Mark handed over the bag to John. The bag was double the size of a Bags for Life.

"We won't keep you any longer. It was nice to meet the two of you." Gary said. He and Mark were expected back in their dressing room as soon as possible. They said their goodbyes and left John and Kayleigh alone where they were.

"I can't believe I met Take That! I can't believe it! Thank you for making my night THE best night EVER! You are without a doubt the most amazing man I know. Just so you know, I fully intend to make our Wedding day, the greatest wedding day ever." Kayleigh suggests, while she teasingly trailed her finger across his chest and gave him a flirtatious wink.

"Kayleigh Kitson you saucy minx. We best get back to the car and go over how we plan to tell our families about our engagement" John is hopeful neither of them will accidentally spill the beans and cause pandemonium within their families.

"Oh yeah. I'd rather not tell Our Mandy tonight because she'll be insisting on skyping Our Kieran, to tell him the news." Kayleigh doesn't fancy the prospect of enduring long night of celebrations. She squeezes John's hand and gives him the sweetest of smiles. The couple eventually returned to the car park. Kayleigh barely let go of John's hand even when she got in the car.

"Kayleigh love. I'm going need my hand back." John laughed, delightful as ever. He realized he was going need his best hand to be released from her grasp...like pretty much right now. The two of them couldn't very well stand around this car park another minute or two.

"Why?" Kayleigh looks nonplussed. She could't really understand John's fussing. Most of the time he didn't half talk a load of bollocks.

"Because how the hell are me and you meant to get back to your Mandy's? Unless you're up for contributing to driving us through the City Centre here." John explained as best he could. He could feel her gently releasing his hand but not before she placed the tenderest of kisses on his knuckles.

"Alright Mister Hulk. Here's your hand back just as you requested." Kayleigh could not keep a straight face as she spoke.

"Hulk am I now? You're so asking for trouble, Lady!" John grinned away like there's no tomorrow. Oh how he enjoyed the many naughty and playful remarks which had played their part in their maturing relationship.

"Oh am I, now?" Kayleigh responded by giggling. She also reveled in watching John dashing round to his side of the car.

"Yes." John gave a more than predictable answer, in due course and appeared to be relishing the opportunity of teasing her furthermore. Well he knows he can, seeing as she was now his fiancee and their relationship was at a stage where equal frisky body language and intimacy was undoubtedly at an all-time high between them. Kayleigh flashes 'I knew it' look directly at him.

As he pulls the handbrake backward, he sees Kayleigh is hardly paying any attention. She can't take her eyes off her sparkling engagement ring. John thought he ought to tell who the ring originally belonged to. "Belonged to me Nana. Told I were thinking of proposing to you and the first thing she said was 'give her my engagement ring'. I protested didn't I but she wasn't having any of it. So she turned around and said 'You John Redmond will make that woman the happiest woman ever, by popping this engagement ring of mine on her finger'. i IN should give you a warning, my mum will probably be telling you about how you're joining an exclusive club, the Redmond women club."

"Aww, that's honestly one of the nicest things anyone's ever done for me. I'll have to thank your Nana for giving you her engagement ring, to give to me. Oh! I can't wait to show Our Mandy it when we tell her and Steve, me and you are getting married." Kayleigh was extremely happy. Kayleigh being her excited self was, now mapping out the best way her and John could tell their families.

"Something tells me I probably should plenty of screaming you two." John laughs. Picturing this very moment was as easy as Misty leaving a terrible mess in his kitchen.

"You betcha Johnathan!" Kayleigh pats his thigh and winks her left eye at him suggestively. They finally left the arena around 11pm. The happy couple were quietly listening to Forever FM's Love Hour. Kayleigh held John's hand everytime the car came to stop at traffic lights.

"You Kayleigh Kitson are going to be one beautiful bride." John said, visibly smiling to himself.

"And you are going to be one super hot groom Johnathan." Kayleigh added, she too showcasing one of her finest smiles. She rested her head on his shoulder like the way she did back a couple of months ago, when their relationship became a romantic one.

**End of Chapter**

**All Reviews are Welcome**


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